Digital nutrition startup Culina Health secured $4.75 million in a seed-funding round led by Healthworx and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures.
Other investors participating in the raise include Rethink Impact, Tensility Ventures, Alpine Meridian Ventures, Knightsgate Ventures, Graham & Walker, Arkitekt Ventures and Redo Ventures.
WHAT IT DOES
Culina offers virtual appointments with registered dieticians who can help build nutrition plans depending on the user’s needs, including for managing diabetes and eating disorders. Patients can also access an app where they can find their goals, session notes and handouts. They can also chat with their dietitian between appointments.
The startup plans to use the seed to continue developing their product and technology platform, as well as for expansion.
“We are excited to invest in Culina Health at this pivotal moment. For people who are living with chronic conditions, and especially GI and autoimmune ones, managing care can be daunting. Getting symptoms under control while balancing lab work, specialist visits, nutrition, lifestyle modifications, medication – it is often a stressful and overwhelming process,” Doba Parushev, director of venture capital at Healthworx, the investment arm of CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, said in a statement.
“Culina’s ability to use registered dietitians for complex care support has the potential to change all of this. Working with and alongside people’s existing care providers, Culina not only addresses nutritional needs in a personalized and scalable way, but ensures that the entire journey – from diagnosis to treatment to management – is as seamless, efficient and effective as possible.”
MARKET SNAPSHOT
Another company in the personalized nutrition space is Season Health, which announced it had raised $34 million in Series A funding in April. Season pitches itself as a “digital food pharmacy,” where patients can work out meal plans based on their needs and have ingredients and recipes delivered to their homes.
European nutrition and lifestyle-change coaching app Oviva raised $80 million in Series C funding last year to grow its reach and further establish its offerings in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland and France.
Meanwhile connected health tech company Withitngs has also expanded into the fitness and nutrition space. It acquired Berlin-based 8fit earlier this year to offer personalized programs and suggestions for its users.